X-ray diffraction studies of trilayer oscillations in the preferred thickness of In films on Si(111)

Abstract

We report a surface x-ray diffraction study of the structure of In films grown on This period is expected from the known electronic structure of In, and arises from quantum confinement of the In valence electrons. This is the second example, after the well-known bilyer period in Pb, which shows quantum oscillations over a wide range of film thickness.

In situx-ray scattering study of Ag island growth on Si(111)7×7

“…This effect is dramatically manifested in the growth of Pb on Si(111) where an oscillatory biatomic layer stability of island heights ("magic heights") is observed 11,12 early in the growth and there is a novel non-classical coarsening exhibited by the islands in the later stages of the island evolution 13 . Similar oscillatory growth has been recently observed for In on Si(111) 14 .…”

Critical Role of a Buried Interface in the Stranski-Krastanov Growth of Metallic Nanocrystals: Quantum Size Effects in Ag/Si(111)-(7×7)

“…The difference between Pb and Ag derives from their elec-tronic structure: the electronic energy of Pb oscillates with thickness whereas for Ag the energy is independent of thickness above 3 ML [15]. It is noted that a very recent study of In has shown oscillatory growth, although, there is limited experimental work on this system [27]. Therefore, there is now strong experimental evidence that quantum confinement effects influence the growth and stability of thin metallic nanocrystals, even when there are no growth oscillations, as in the case of Ag(111).…”

Development of a hybrid molecular beam epitaxy deposition system for in situ surface x-ray studies

“…In situ X-ray scattering utilizing the brilliance of synchrotron X-ray sources offers opportunities to probe film synthesis at the atomic scale. [25][26][27] In particular, surface X-ray diffraction (SXRD) allows the use of many surface-sensitive methods well-suited to the investigation of thin film growth. These techniques include grazing incidence X-ray scattering and spectroscopy, 28 measurement of crystal truncation rods (CTRs) and fractional-order peaks, and diffuse scattering, all of which can be applied to films comprised of only a few atomic layers.…”